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I'd like to try and read a modern English & prose (i.e. highly non-poetic, non stilted, if necessary non-direct) translation of Dante's Inferno sometime. (Poetr
by qiqitori 3y ago
I'd like to try and read a modern English & prose (i.e. highly non-poetic, non stilted, if necessary non-direct) translation of Dante's Inferno sometime. (Poetry is incompatible with my brain, unless it's funny. I can't be the only one? Yes, school was hell sometimes. (No pun intended.)) Does anyone have any recommendations?
- JosephK 3y agoTry Alasdair Gray's translation.
- sycamoretrees 3y agoI think it’s fine to not be into poetry, but at its core the Divine Comedy is a long poem, and I’m not sure what’s left after you remove any and all “poetic” elements. The Wikipedia page I’m sure could give you the basic characteristics of the circles of hell, if that’s all you really want to know. By the way, the book is a chore in many ways, despite the many nuggets of gold you’ll find within it. It’s long, and the number of references is overwhelming. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that it will never be light reading, no matter how you cut it. Why not look at it as more of a personal project or challenge (poetry and all)?
- redrove 3y agoYou’re not the only one, I read several books a month and I could never for the life of me stick with poetry — it’s just painful. I was also forced to read poetry in school but I’m not sure that’s really the cause.
- mpol 3y agoI did like the version of Larry Niven - Inferno. Only the part in hell is used as a story. It was quite readable.